Reflections on living with and caring for animals

The Five are Three

The kittens are three weeks old today! Well, technically tonight…but close enough.

Clearly they won’t fit in this basket much longer. They are all in the 12 ounce range now, some are 12.5. All gained weight last week, and that’s what we like to see.

Our little girl with the icky eye, Buffy, is looking much better, thanks to her eye drops.

And these two, the orange boys, Spike and Oz, are often together. When they’re not they often cry for the other one. Might have a bonded pair here…too soon to tell. (And yes, there’s the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme with these three.)

Our explorer extraordinaire, Pixel, continues his journeys, and is first to try anything new out.

And Jagger, our little buff boy…such a sweetie.

They are nursing well, though they don’t all fit at mom’s belly at the same time anymore. We will be trying to start them on some KMR (kitten milk replacer) soon, mostly to try to wean them so mom can be spayed and freed. She’s quite tired of being cooped up and she’s not quite friendly enough that we can let her roam in the cat house. So we’re trying to push the weaning by a tiny bit…may or may not work. And if not, momma is stuck with us a bit longer. She’s not terribly interested in the kittens, though she does what is required of her. But anytime she’s not nursing, she’s up on her shelf away from the kittens. She’s quite ready to go home!

In the meantime, the kittens are starting to look like cats, and developing their own personalities. Those unsteady legs of last week are steadier each day and climb over siblings without any problem. They are a bundle of adorableness on their way to being a bundle of mischief any day now. Our goal, in Derry Township Community Cats, is to NOT have kittens that need care, to get everyone possible spayed or neutered. But realistically there will always be some kittens. Last summer we were buried in them. Hoping this summer our ongoing work pays off and there are many fewer. And in the meantime, we’ll enjoy the little ones, who are just too cute for words.